Cavaliers hire former Kings, Lakers HC Luke Walton as assistant coach

The son of Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton, Luke spent the majority of his playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2003 to 2012, winning two championships. During his time with the Lakers, surrounded by stars like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, Walton was typically relegated to bench duty, but did average career highs in points (11.4), rebounds (5.0), assists (4.3) and minutes per game (33.0) while shooting a career-best 47.4% from the field during the 2006-2007 campaign.

Walton was traded to the Cavs in March 2012 and played 71 games off the Cleveland bench to round out his career. The Arizona product started his coaching career with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant under Steve Kerr during the 2014-2015 season and stayed with the organization for two years — making back-to-back Finals and winning it all in 2015 — before landing his first lead gig with the Lakers in April 2016.

In the post-Bryant years, the Lakers struggled and failed to make the playoffs in each of Walton's three seasons at the helm. The 42-year-old was fired in April 2019 after posting a 98-148 mark with Los Angeles, but days later, he was hired as the Sacramento Kings' head coach.

In 161 games over two-plus seasons with Sacramento, Walton led the team to a 68-93 record.